Owners

The Potter Stinks badges were badges made during the 1994–1995 school year at Hogwarts. When Harry Potter was mysteriously selected to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, many students began wearing badges that flashed between the phrases "Support Cedric Diggory -- The Real Hogwarts Champion" in luminous red letters and "Potter Stinks" in glowing green letters; this function was activated by pressing on the badge. Many Slytherins and Hufflepuffs wore the badges prior to the First Task: the Slytherins had a long-standing animosity towards Gryffindor House, but the Hufflepuffs thought that Harry had stolen their glory by rivalling Cedric, and wore the badges to intimidate him. The Hufflepuffs eased off somewhat once the First Task was over, mostly at Cedric's request. But the Slytherins wore them throughout the the year. At one point, Colin and Dennis Creevey attempted to change the badges to say "Support Harry Potter," but could only manage to get them stuck at "Potter Stinks", and then eventually "Potter Really Stinks".

Behind the scenes

Concept artwork of both parts of the badge

In the film adaptation, the badges, when turning into "Support Cedric", read "Cedric Diggory" instead.

It is noted that Harry found one of the badges while cleaning out his trunk.[1] Exactly why he would wish to have one is unknown, but it is possible that someone slipped one into his belongings while he wasn't looking. It is possible that it was one of the badges that the Creevey brothers were trying to modify, which Harry threw at Ronald Weasley, or that Harry had chosen to keep the badge as a tribute to the late Cedric.

Cho Chang refused to wear one of these badges, something that cheered Harry up, however slightly.